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<h1>Best practices: Designing effective dashboards</h1>
<p>The goal of most dashboards is to magnify specific points of data, making 
 them easy for users to identify. To achieve this goal effectively, you 
 must make certain decisions before you begin creating your dashboard. 
 The best practices described below are grouped into the following sections:</p>
<ul type="disc" class="whs1">
	
<li class=p><p>
<a href="#Choosing_datasets_for_a_dashboard">Choosing 
 datasets for a dashboard</a></p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>
<a href="#Layering_information_in_a_dashboard">Layering 
 information in a dashboard</a></p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>
<a href="#Planning_the_dashboard_s_outline_and_structure">Planning 
 the dashboards outline and structure</a></p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>
<a href="#Placing_data_and_visualizations_onto_a_dashboard">Placing 
 data and visualizations onto a dashboard</a></p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>
<a href="#Enhancing_dashboard_performance">Enhancing 
 dashboard performance</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h2>
<a name=Choosing_datasets_for_a_dashboard></a>Choosing datasets for 
 a dashboard</h2>
<p>You can use existing reports and documents as 
<a href="Datasets_in_documents.htm">datasets</a> 
 in a new dashboard. This can save you time and help avoid unnecessary 
 duplication in your MicroStrategy metadata. You can also create new datasets 
 for your dashboard. </p>
<ul type="disc" class="whs1">
	
<li class=p><p>A dataset should have enough data to be useful as a 
 rich source of analysis for many users, but it should not have extra data 
 that is not needed on the dashboard. For example, do not include product 
 item information when you only want to display product category information.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>As you gather or create datasets, focus on important 
 indicators such as performance stakes, trends, and variances.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Users typically browse a large number of reports somewhat 
 randomly, looking for interesting trends. You can gather related reports 
 to use on your dashboard, so that all the data is available together in 
 a single context. Users can locate the data more easily and analyze it 
 more efficiently.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>When choosing reports to incorporate into a single layer 
 on a dashboard (a dashboard page or panel), consider the ratio of graph 
 to grid reports to display. Common graph:grid ratios range from 4:1 to 
 1:3. The average graph:grid ratio from a general sample of dashboards 
 was approximately 2:1.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Consider using a dashboard in place of 8-12 existing 
 reports in your MicroStrategy project. You will generally use 3-5 reports 
 on each layer of the dashboard; dashboards generally have from one to 
 three layers (see 
<a HREF="Panels_and_panel_stacks.htm">About layering 
 data in dashboards: Panels and panel stacks</a>).</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Consider using a dashboard to replace three to four 
 existing documents in your MicroStrategy project. If you have three documents 
 that contain data from a related subject area, you can use each document 
 as a single layer or panel of your dashboard. Having all this related 
 information in one dashboard can provide a more productive analysis experience 
 for your users. </p></li>
</ul>
<p class="whs2">For example, you have three documents for 
 your human resources department. Each document is related to salaries 
 and other benefits, headcounts, or hiring. Create a dashboard with a panel 
 stack sized to take up the entire screen. Add two more panels so you have 
 three panels in the panel stack. Then re-create the first document on 
 the first panel of the dashboard, the second document on the second panel, 
 and so on. Add a selector of three tabs (buttons) at the top of the panel 
 stack. Users can tab between the layers of human resources data, depending 
 on whether they are interested in headcounts, hiring, or salaries. For 
 a sample of this dashboard, see the <span style="font-style: italic;"><I>MicroStrategy 
 Report Services Document Creation Guide</I></span>. </p>
<h2>
<a name=Layering_information_in_a_dashboard></a>Layering information 
 in a dashboard</h2>
<ul type="disc" class="whs1">
	
<li class=p><p>Plan to have from one to three layers for your dashboard. 
 You can visualize these layers as pages of your dashboard; analysts will 
 see one page at a time. Multiple layers allow you to design a dashboard 
 that contains much more information overall, but presents only a reasonable 
 subset of that information in the layer currently being displayed. </p></li>
	<ul type="square" class="whs3">
		
<li class=p><p>Create layers by adding a panel stack to your dashboard. 
 Size the panel stack so it is large enough to take up the entire screen. 
 Then place enough panels on the panel stack to equal the number of layers 
 needed in your dashboard. Each panel becomes one layer of your dashboard. 
 Finally, create a set of tabs above the panel stack by adding a selector 
 made of buttons, one tab (button) for each layer (panel).</p></li>
	</ul>
	
<li class=p><p>Consider grouping data by layers according to subject 
 areas or business dimensions, with one subject area or business dimension 
 per layer. For example, one layer might show income at the corporate level, 
 while a second layer might also show income but at a departmental level 
 or a regional level. The final layer might show detailed income data. 
 This lets you serve diverse user communities without overwhelming users, 
 as they can each flip to and work with the dashboard layer that specifically 
 interests them.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Consider grouping data by layers according to regions 
 of the country or regions of the world, so that, for example, sales metrics 
 can be displayed within a given regional context.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>
<a name=Planning_the_dashboard_s_outline_and_structure></a>Planning 
 the dashboard's outline and structure</h2>
<ul type="disc" class="whs1">
	
<li class=p><p>Use Microsoft Excel, Paint, PowerPoint, or another tool 
 to create a mockup of the dashboard. The mock-up should convey a clear 
 vision of the information, structure, layout, and formatting. Send the 
 mock-up to your user community to gather feedback on its usefulness. This 
 can save time creating and formatting a complex, finished dashboard that 
 may need to be redone.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Group related reports so they can be placed in a small 
 panel stack, each panel displaying a single report. As users flip through 
 the panels, they will be flipping through the related reports. The reports 
 in a panel stack should not be reports that a user might want to see side 
 by side in a dashboard; rather, the reports should show different levels 
 of detail about the same or closely related data.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Plan to provide visualizations. These can include any 
 of the available widgets, such as a gauge, thermometer, heat map, and 
 so on, which can help users understand data at a glance. Consider the 
 following best practice:</p></li>
	<ul type="square" class="whs3">
		
<li class=p><p>Do not add so many graphical objects that the focus 
 of the dashboard is no longer the data. Too many visualizations can detract 
 from the importance of the data. </p></li>
	</ul>
	
<li class=p><p>Plan to provide interactivity. This can include any 
 of the available selectors, such as tabs, buttons, and sliders, which 
 let users change a report&rsquo;s metrics, attribute elements, and filters. 
 Interactive features let users customize the display of data without needing 
 a developer or designer to perform any work.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Consider common user workflows when designing a dashboard. 
 Think about how analysts are going to move through the dashboard, what 
 links they will want to click, and so on. Try to embed this workflow directly 
 into the dashboard. Do this by placing objects so that data can be interpreted 
 from the top left to the bottom right.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Granularity should increase from top to bottom on a 
 dashboard. For example, place objects that display key performance indicators 
 at the top of the dashboard. These objects might include large graphs 
 such as a funnel graph (also called a pipeline), a pie graph, widgets 
 such as a gauge, and so on.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Decide which objects on the dashboard should share the 
 same formatting styles, and which objects should be physically aligned 
 with each other. These decisions are important time-savers if you make 
 them before you spend a lot of time actually formatting objects and fine-tuning 
 object placement.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Use effects for trends, summaries, and other high-level 
 data. If users want to analyze details in a report, too many effects can 
 make it difficult to understand more detailed data. </p></li>
</ul>
<p class="whs2">For example, if you apply the curved effect 
 to the line in a line graph, the exact points where the line hits the 
 graph are adjusted so that the line can be curved smoothly. This looks 
 nice, but users who rely on seeing every detail will have difficulty. 
 If you want to apply the curved effect, you can also provide a grid report 
 alongside showing exact values. An alternative is adding tooltips (a mouseover) 
 which display actual values for points on the graph.</p>
<h2>
<a name=Placing_data_and_visualizations_onto_a_dashboard></a>Placing 
 data and visualizations onto a dashboard</h2>
<ul type="disc" class="whs1">
	
<li class=p><p>Place reports into appropriate areas on the dashboard, 
 and then resize them as needed to achieve your planned appearance. Placement 
 should take into account the user workflow and granularity discussions 
 in Layering information in a dashboard.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Keep the number of objects on the screen to a minimum 
 to achieve a clean look. Use graphical objects sparingly. Make use of 
 abbreviated text in text fields as appropriate, to make the best use of 
 space. You can add a tooltip (a mouseover) to explain any abbreviations 
 that may not be clear to all users.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>For any graph or widget, provide a tooltip (a mouseover) 
 so that users who are interested in specific details can see the actual 
 values behind the general trends displayed by graphic visualizations. 
 This is an excellent way to support two sets of users who need widely 
 differing levels of information on the same subjects.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Provide a quick switch capability for all graph reports, 
 so users can switch with a single click between the graphical display 
 of data and its corresponding grid report showing individual cells with 
 specific values.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Provide a title bar on reports (Grid/Graphs) on the 
 dashboard so users can maximize and minimize the individual reports. This 
 ability to minimize and maximize reports provides users with a portal-like 
 environment, with each report behaving like a portlet window. This allows 
 users to control how space is used on their screens, and to focus on the 
 data they are interested in.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>If you have a panel stack on the dashboard, add a selector 
 so users can flip between the panels on the panel stack.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Sliders are best used on graphs that specify a date 
 range. Sliders can not only change the time frame of the data displayed 
 in a report or set of reports, they can also change the span of time being 
 analyzed.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>If you have related reports on a dashboard layer, add 
 a selector to one of the reports and connect it to the related report. 
 When users choose to see a certain aspect of the first report, the second 
 report automatically changes to display the related data. When the user 
 clicks on one grid or graph, his selection serves as a filter for the 
 related grid or graph. For example, in a pie graph showing revenue for 
 all products, a user clicks a slice of the pie graph representing electronics 
 revenue. The connected report below the pie graph, displaying detailed 
 sales numbers, automatically updates its data to reflect the user&rsquo;s 
 selection, displaying sales numbers for various electronic products.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Add selectors to different parts of the dashboard so 
 users can customize the data they see at many levels. For example, add 
 a selector at the top of the dashboard itself, so users can switch between 
 layers of the dashboard. Then add a selector at the top of an individual 
 layer, so users can change metrics, for example, to change the focus of 
 that layer of the dashboard. Finally, add a selector to each of the reports 
 on that layer, so users can focus the details of their analysis on a specific 
 area.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>
<a name=Enhancing_dashboard_performance></a>Enhancing dashboard performance</h2>
<ul type="disc" class="whs1">
	
<li class=p><p>Use as few datasets as possible when designing the dashboard. 
 For example, one dataset report with 1000 rows displays faster than ten 
 smaller dataset reports. However, be aware that combining dataset reports 
 can create a Cartesian join, which inflates the size of the combined dataset 
 and results in slower performance. For more information about dataset 
 joining, refer to the <span style="font-style: italic;"><I>MicroStrategy 
 Report Services Document Creation Guide</I></span>.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Having all the data in the rows negatively impacts the 
 rendering time for Editable Mode and Interactive Mode.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>A selector with many items (for example, the buttons 
 or check boxes) increases the time it takes for the dashboard to execute. 
 For example, if you increase the number of items by a factor of ten, server 
 execution times can increase up to 50%. In essence, a larger number of 
 items translates into a larger dataset. </p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Flash Mode provides better performance when selectors 
 have many targets, that is, the Grid/Graphs and/or panel stacks affected 
 by the selectors.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>A selector that controls attributes displayed on a Grid/Graph 
 performs faster than a selector that controls attributes that are displayed 
 on a panel.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Nesting panel stacks (that is, placing a panel stack 
 on a panel) increases client rendering time. To reduce that time, include 
 data in both panel stacks, not just the nested panel stack.</p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>In Flash Mode, after the dashboard is initially loaded, 
 manipulations such as choosing a selector item are executed on the client 
 machine. In contrast, such manipulations in Interactive Mode send additional 
 requests from Web Server to Intelligence Server. Since Flash Mode uses 
 minimal server resources after the initial load is complete, system overhead 
 is reduced for multiple users concurrently manipulating their dashboards. 
 Therefore, Flash Mode has faster response times for manipulations, regardless 
 of the number of users accessing the dashboard. However, these same users 
 must accept longer document execution times due to the initial loading 
 of Flash. </p></li>
	
<li class=p><p>Graphs perform better in Flash Mode than in Editable 
 Mode and Interactive Mode.</p></li>
</ul>
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